Way Back
by Cobalt Blue Sphere
Summary: Out in the wilderness, no memory beyond a fleeting whisper of a home waiting for him to come back, and with only a not-entirely-there 'Guide' for company. Red isn't too sure about the future, but he has to try, right?
1. Chapter 1

"G'morning, bud. You doin' okay down there?"

A curious voice was the first thing Red remembered hearing when he woke up – or perhaps more appropriately, was what woke him up. It was bright, and he was laying on his back on something flat and uncomfortable. Slowly he managed to open his eyes, shielding them from the sun as best he could.

"Oh yeah, it's bright out, innit? Nice morning. Hold on, I'll get that,"

Suddenly Red was drowned in shade, and he found it possible to open his eyes wholly. As he sat up, Red saw a man standing tall, shielding him from the sun's harsh light. He couldn't make out any of the details; the sun behind the man rendered him nothing but a tall mass of blackness.

"Eyes open? Good, quick riser. Love it! Feelin' about ready to stand up? Here, I'll lend ya a hand." He stooped slightly even as his mouth continued running, stretching his arm and proffering his right hand.

"Who're you?" Red managed to slur out as he groggily reached out and took the man's hand.

"Good first question! I'm the Guide. C'mon, up ya come," he said easily, hauling Red to his feet.

"Guide? Guide of what?"

"You, I'm presuming. You are the only one around, after all." He took a step back, clapped his hands together and straightened his posture before continuing. "So! We got a lot to get through today. Hope you slept well. Sure looked like you did,"

"You were watching me sleep?" Red paused in rubbing his eyes to look at him. He didn't know what to think at this point. The guy was strange, if nothing else, but if he had any malign intentions he'd probably already had ample opportunity to act on them.

"Yeah, only for a minute or two. Only just got here, didn't have much more of a chance."

Or maybe not.

"Only just got here? Where from?"

He shrugged idly. "Couldn't tell ya, to be honest. Doesn't really matter, does it? Matters that I'm here. C'mon, let's -"

"No, wait, come on." Red interrupted him, still rubbing at his eyes and slurring his words slightly – he'd only just woken up, after all. "I woke up in the dirt wherever the hell - if you're the _guide_ here, I want some answers first."

"Hell, that's fine too! Fire away, and I'll answer ya as best I can. Wanna make those questions quick though, sun's burning away. We don't want to be out and about at night," He rubbed his hands together, a genuine smile on his face. Red wasn't entirely sure what he was smiling about, but at least he'd agreed.

Red took a moment to look at his strange company a little closer, now that his vision was a mite clearer. His first impression was of a man with a pleasant demeanour; the Guide wore a simple olive-coloured flannel shirt and pants of the same material but a navy blue colour, and a small pouch strung onto his belt. A great head of blonde hair spiked up above his clearly relaxed face. Bright blue eyes looked back at his assessor almost as inquisitively as he was being gazed at himself. Nothing about his appearance spoke to any possibility of duplicity, but Red couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to him than his meagre appearance.

"Okay. Where am I?" He turned his eyes to the lush greenery surrounding him as he asked that, the first and most obvious question.

"Ah, they always ask that. This is Terraria, my friend! A lovely little island where magic permeates the very air. Life's pretty easy around here, for as long as the sun's up above your head. You got that, and you're golden," The Guide explained, beaming smile never leaving his face.

"Right... Okay, why am I here? And why are you here?"

"Don't know and to help you out, in that order. That is why I'm called the Guide, after all."

"But why? Help with what?"" Red insisted. He didn't know where he was, or why he was there – He needed answers before he did anything.

"Tell you what – let's focus on the what and the where questions first. Why's got a long, complicated answer behind it, and I'd like to tell it tomorrow when we're not going to die," His smile faded slightly, but still didn't leave his face entirely.

"Why are we going to die tomorrow?" Red asked, blatantly disregarding his company's attempt at directing the conversation.

"Alright, I'll answer that one on a technicality. We're going to die in the night without shelter, more specifically. The monsters come out at night, y'know. Like I said, it's only sunshine and roses for as long as the sun's up." He stuffed his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth idly. Red almost would've guessed he was bored, if not for the benign smile on his face and the patient tone in his voice.

"Monsters? How do you mean? What are you talking about?" Red asked, panic filtering in to his voice. He couldn't remember much of anything before waking up, but was sure somehow that monsters weren't part of his previous existence.

"Wicked things, my man. Fiends that crawl up out of the woodwork in the night and look for blood. Terrifying things! But only at night, like I said. They run away from the sun – too bright out, y'see, 'specially on a lovely morning like this one."

"I – I don't know anything about dealing with monsters, I -"

"And that's why I'm here. I'm the Guide!" He cut Red off before he could panic more completely. "I'll tell ya everything you need to know to live here. You ask, I answer as best I can. I've got the know-how, you've got the to-do - we'll make quite a pair, trust me."

They both stopped talking for a time, simply staring at each other instead. Red was doing his best to simultaneously hold back a panic attack and figure out where he was, who the man was, what his angle was, what he wanted – the man, the Guide, responded to Red's probing gaze easily with a relaxed smile, still rocking back and forth with his hands firmly ensconced in his pockets.

"Alright, then, so... what do I start with?" Red finally asked, trying to keep his voice level.

He positively beamed at the question. "Now we're talkin'! Alright, we'll start with some wood. Here, I've got an axe somewhere..."

"You've got what?" Red's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he took a step back. This stranger didn't seem quite all there to him, and an axe was the last thing he wanted to be added to the situation.

"An axe. For cutting wood, you know? Somewhere..."

Red looked on cautiously. This Guide was rifling around on his own person, as though he expected to pull an entire axe out of his pocket or something.

"Ah, got it!" The Guide exclaimed, and to Red's astonishment did exactly that. One moment he was making slightly discomforting gestures around his waist, then the next he was hefting a single-headed axe half as tall as he was in his hand.

With an easy motion the Guide flipped the axe around and proffered it to Red, handle first. A bemused smile accompanied the offering, as Red stood firmly where he was and looked uncertainly at him.

"What do you want me to do with that, exactly?" Red asked, severely off-balance and at a loss for anything else to say.

"Well, it's an axe. You chop things with it," he grinned, and flipped it back around in his hands to hold it up by its middle. "It's not too hard - grab it by the handle, sharp end goes in the thing you want cut down. Here, I'll even show you,"

He took a step back from Red to give himself room, then brought the axe around and behind him. Red took a further step back, still not entirely trusting the stranger who declared himself his 'Guide'.

"Hold it like this, then swing it around, ideally at a tree or something. That's pretty much it - I mean, there's some subtle nuances to the majestic art of logging but you pick those up over time," His benign smile widened as he stepped forward and again offered the axe to Red, haft first. This time Red reached out slowly and took it, accepting it gingerly and testing its weight.

"It'd be good for self defence too I imagine, right?" he said idly, tapping his finger on the flat of the axe-head. It was a light brown in colour, most likely copper. Another even more idle part of his mind wondered how he knew or remembered that.

"Eh," the Guide's unexpected noise of indifference brought his attention away from the tool. "It'll do in a pinch, I guess, but there's better things out there. That's not what we'll focus on though, we should be alright during the day and we need some wood to get a shelter going. Pick a tree and hopefully we'll get this done before night-time, huh?"

"So I'll be cutting down a house's worth of wood and putting it together in the same day?" Red didn't bother to hide his scepticism as he moved slowly towards the nearest tree he saw.

"I'll damn well hope so, or we're both monster chow," the Guide's mouth stretched into an easygoing smile that was far removed from the less-pleasant words that it expelled, but he seemed not to notice. "It's not too hard, just sweaty and time-consuming. Hence, we start now, hopefully we'll be done before the sun goes down."

"You've got another axe lying around, then?" Red asked, now sizing his chosen tree up and swinging his axe experimentally.

"Nah, just the one." the Guide replied easily.

Red looked back disbelievingly. "What? So I'll be doing it all myself?"

"Course not! It's like I said - me with the know-how, you with the to-do. You get the wood down, I'll show you how we fashion it into something workable."

"Sounds to me like you get the easy end of the bargain," Red glared at his companion uncharitably.

"Yeah, well, they call me the Guide and not the Logger," he grinned. "And they say knowledge is the heaviest burden anyway."

"No way," Red snapped, completely unimpressed by his fellow's brevity of wit. He let the head of the axe fall and thump against the grass, leaning over and supporting himself on its base. "I'm not doing anything if you're not going to at least help me. How do I know this isn't some kind of sham for cheap labour or something? What do you get out of this? How do I know you're on the level with me?"

"Well, you'll know it pretty hard when the sun goes down, I'll say that for ya right now," his expression became slightly more serious, but the good nature didn't leave his face entirely. "What reason have I got to lie to you? I'm here doin' my job. And if this was some kind of scam or something, I reckon I'd lure you in with somethin' that'd secure more than only a single day's work, don't you reckon? I said I'll sort you out with what's going on once we've got a half decent shelter."

Red didn't budge, and the Guide sighed and ran a hand through his spiky hair.

"Listen, man. I get that it's not really the way you want to wake up, lyin' in the dirt and then gettin' bossed around by some guy you only just met. But trust me, eh? Work with me a bit. I know what's going on around here, and believe me, I'm firmly on your side."

Red still didn't move, but the Guide held his full attention. He continued speaking, fully aware of that and intent on taking advantage of it.

"Just stick with it, and trust me, you'll go far. Might not necessarily be easy, but you'll be alive, and if you're worth your salt you'll get there and from there, I'm presuming back wherever you came from. I'll do my best to help you, alright? That's my job - my contract to you, huh?" The easy smile returned as he held a hand to his chest and then stretched it out towards his charge. He let it drop without waiting for a response, then turned to look at the tree Red had approached. "It's easy, this, but the problem - I'm awful with an axe, and I will find a way to bungle it. So - you bring the wood down, and I'll help you cobble it into something we can stay safe in."

Red stayed silent and looked down to the ground. His brows were still furrowed but his expression had softened somewhat.

"What's your name, bud? Do you remember? I should've asked earlier, sorry..." The Guide asked quietly.

"It's Red," he replied, still looking down.

"Red. Right. Well, at least you've still got that, huh? My name's Dustin, and it's a genuine pleasure to meet ya, I assure you." Red looked up at his newly named acquaintance as the man continued. "Like I said, I'll do my best to help you out here, but there's only so much I can do. If it helps you trust me, I can tell you straight up I do have an ulterior motive - what's good for you is good for me, here. That's all it is. Seeing you through the next couple of days safe and healthy is my number one priority, man."

"Why?" Red asked shortly.

"I would like to tell you once we have a nice, safe, solid place for me to tell you in - it'll take more than a few minutes to tell. Only got so many hours in a day, and like I said, this place is far from friendly when night falls. It's better for both of us that we get some trees down and get a nice place to sleep up first."

Red stayed silent for a moment, then hefted the axe again and turned back to the tree. "Alright. Fine. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now, I suppose."

"That's the spirit! Worst case scenario, it's a day lost to chopping wood, right?" He grinned again and clapped his hands together. "Tell you what, I'll even see if I can sort out something to eat. If you'll start knockin' 'em down, I'll be back with you in a moment."


	2. Chapter 2

"How the hell did I finish that in less than a day?"

Red was alone in the clearing as he looked up at his grand finished creation, hands on his hips; the log house stood tall and sturdy in the middle of the clearing he'd eked out over the hours. Somehow, the tree stumps had seemed to uproot themselves with the rest of the tree as he'd cut them, and the dirt beneath seemed packed as though the tree had never been rooted there at all. True to the Guide's word, the work had been far easier than he'd expected - the axe tore through the wood with no more than a dozen swings, and he found himself able to push and lift the fallen trees with far less effort than he'd anticipated. With further assistance from his Guide, the wood had been broken and within the span of a few hours arranged into a functioning house. As he'd placed individual pieces next to each other, they had fastened together just as the tree had unfastened itself from the ground - he didn't understand entirely what was happening, but assumed the two processes were not too different. Despite that he'd used nothing in its creation but the wood he'd just logged, the shelter appeared staunch and stolid, as though it had already endured time's test for years. At Dustin's instruction it had even been lightly furnished with a workbench and chairs inside, barely visible in the dark through small holes in the door. No windows, but he'd been told that was for the better.

The sun was still shining far overhead.

"What, you were still expecting it to take longer?" Dustin looked slightly confused at Red's question, but elaborated. "I told ya, Terraria's a strange place. I dunno what it's like wherever you come from, but destruction and creation alike go fast here. I bet ya could bring that back down to little blocks in a couple of minutes. I should say, though, don't – don't actually do it, we need that standing pretty badly."

Red furrowed his brows. "Is it really that bad at night?"

"Depends. You like your head attached, right?"

"But how will just logs keep... well, anything out?"

He chuckled in response. "Take it from the guy with experience, it will. Here, lunch, like I said - mushrooms."

"Mushrooms?" Red looked down to the Guide's outstretched hand, several plain brown mushrooms with stalks still attached resting on his palm.

"Yep. Good for you. Keep you going through thick and thin, these little buggers will, so keep an eye out for them whenever you're out. Taste pretty average, unfortunately, but you can work something out with 'em in less dire circumstances, huh?"

Red slowly reached his own hand out and took one. His Guide plucked one of the remaining ones from his hand and shoved it into his mouth, stalk and all. Red waited for him to swallow his before he started, still hesitant and seeking reassurance that he wasn't about to be poisoned - he also stood amazed that the man in front of him managed to make chewing an entire mushroom look relaxing as opposed to laborious.

"Yep, still tastes like rubber," he said easily as he finished. "Better than starvin' though, right? And we can fix it up when there's less pressing matters, like I say. You want any more, or should I just drop 'em near the door or something?"

"I'll just start with the one, I think," Red replied and set about eating the one he'd taken.

Several minutes passed quietly. Red sat down in the shade on the grassy dirt near the door and slowly chewed through his spongy excuse for a meal. The Guide wandered around the outside of the house, looking it up and down appraisingly. Red finished his first within short order and reached for another mushroom, sitting quietly and chewing through the rubbery fungus.

He set his mind to work as he rested his body, taking stock of his situation. He was out in a strange wilderness that didn't seem to obey the laws of reality that he could vaguely remember, his only company was an overbearing guy who declared himself to be his Guide, and he had no idea how to get home, or even what or where his home was. His thoughts turned to the shelter, more specifically how quickly it had been built and how solid it looked for such a rushed job.

Dustin rounded the corner again, and Red quickly took the opportunity to speak up. "Hey, how come you were hurrying me if you knew it would only take... how long was it, a few hours?"

"Yeah, a few. Looks like a little after midday, I reckon." Dustin looked upwards at the sun's position, shielding his eyes from the glare. "It never hurts to be safe as opposed to sorry, huh? Anyway, we've still got more whats and hows to focus on before the moon comes up."

Red sighed resignedly at this; so he still wasn't planning on giving up any answers. He seemed to be able to read his charge's expression pretty easily, and launched into what was probably to be a rousing speech.

"Hey, remember I said I'll tell you the whys of Terraria tomorrow. Come on, chin up! Got something neat to show you." He unclasped the small pouch from his belt and extended it towards Red. "Check it out. You won't see very many of these! Only one, I think – and it's yours now.

"What is it?" Red asked, reaching his hand up slowly.

"Well, it's a pouch," he answered with the biggest shit-eating grin he could put on. "Ya put things in it."

"I gathered that, thanks," Red snapped. "How come I'll only see one of it? People don't like pouches here?"

"Oh, you'll probably see a few pouches, but only one of those! Put anything in it, and it'll fit. Easy." Dustin accented his speech with an exaggerated gesture, swinging his arm toward the trees on the edge of the clearing. "See that tree? Knock it down, cut it up and I bet you all the wood will fit in there."

Red looked down at the completely ordinary-looking, unassuming pouch. "This will really hold an entire tree?"

"And much more. Cut down half the trees in the forest, they'll all fit easy peasy. There's limits, of course, but you'll be able to carry a crap-ton!" Dustin smiled.

"And I won't be weighed down carrying half the forest in this pouch?" Red's gaze left the pouch to meet Dustin's.

"Shouldn't do. Tell me if you do though, that'd sure make life a lot harder for us."

"Right. How will I even get a tree in there, anyway?"

"Pretty easy. Just pick it up yourself - or little bits of it that you can actually pick up - hold it near the bag and it'll take it in of its own accord."

Red looked back at him, confused slightly but clearly doing his best to go along with it. "And then how do I get it back out?"

"Stick your hand in the bag, and you'll know what's in there. You just will, I still don't fully understand it myself, before you ask. Anyway, hand in the bag, feel around for what you want, grab it and pull it out. Easy peasy."

"And how does this work exactly? How can it hold... half a forest, or whatever?" Red's scepticism continued to shine through in his voice as he asked.

"No idea, like I say. I thought at one point it might be like a little portal or something to some unused space somewhere or something - a little portable hole or somesuch, you know. I don't know though - never been able to find out either way. Pretty much all I know of it is what I told you. Damn handy thing though, you know - storage power like that has its perks."

"I'll bet," Red mumbled under his breath. He turned the pouch over in his hands a few times, then slipped it into his pocket. "Thanks, then. So what do you want me to do now?"

"Well, there should be a few little crappy little swords in there. Grab 'em out - like I said, just stick your hand in and you'll feel 'em even if you can't see 'em. I'll show you the most vital thing: The sword and how to swing it." Dustin's grin returned to his face as he clapped his hands together and stepped toward his charge.


	3. Chapter 3

"Come on man, back into it!" Dustin refused to give Red an inch, his overbearing voice tearing through any attempt at a moment of peace. "Like this!"

With another exaggerated motion he drew the tiny sword behind him and thrust it forward to strike an imaginary enemy - imaginary, primarily because his trainee was no longer there. Red fell backward and leaned down against the makeshift house's walls, sweating and panting from exhaustion. The copper sword (more like a knife, he had snapped to Dustin) clattered to the ground almost as weakly as its wielder.

Dustin halted in his motions, looking over at his charge with narrowed eyes. "You're not gonna get anything done from down there."

"Yeah, good," Red seethed, pressing himself harder against the dirt as if in defiance. "I need a moment, I've been on my feet all day! Haven't gotten a minute of rest for hours,"

"Hey, you need to be good with a weapon if you want to get anywhere around here. You could probably eke out survival from the dirt if you're hard enough, but that's tough, and if you want to achieve anything more than hiding in a pitch-black log house you're gonna need to be guttin' things." Dustin relaxed slightly despite his words and let the sword in his hand lower.

Red wasn't quite sure why, but that thought unsettled him. As sure as he'd been earlier that monsters were never part of his life, he was even more sure that killing was a process he'd never been through.

"Alright, just, ah... cop a quick break, I guess. Suppose we've still got some time, but we need to get a light goin' soon..." Dustin looked up at the sky distractedly. It was well past noon, but the sun was not near ready to set.

"How come I need to learn a sword so fast if I'm going to be spending the night in a house? Isn't it safe in there?" Red huffed as he regained his breath.

"Huh? Oh, nah, it's good. Safe as houses in there, heh." The familiar grin returned with a vengeance. "We need a light in there, though. A good one that won't burn out in the night, or worse, burn the place down. You aren't gonna scab that off the ground - you're gonna have to take it off of something else, and that's what the sword's for. Lends some persuasion powers to you when you ask,"

"I don't think I want to have to fight anyone -"

"You won't be fighting any_one_," Dustin cut him off. "Not under ideal circumstances, anyway. They'd probably mop the floor with you at this point, you know. And even then, if you can work together why waste effort on stabbing each other, huh? No, at this point you'll be after less of 'someone' and more of 'somethings'. Most of them aren't even technically alive, anyway."

"What are they, then?" Red's curiousity burned despite his reluctance on the topic.

"Well, they're... things. Like I say. Anything from the slimes you've seen around to the walkin', stalkin' -"

"Slimes? I haven't seen anything like that," Dustin was cut off as Red spoke up.

"Haven't you?" Dustin said in a surprised tone. "Huh. Well, you'll know 'em when you see 'em. They're big blobs of... well, slime. Hence the name. Tons of colours - green, blue, red, yellow, black, pink. In a rough order of toughness, that is. Green ones are generally pretty stupid, passive unless provoked. Pick on the green or blue ones as you see 'em, avoid the rest unless you're feeling cocky or you've decided you've had enough of life."

"Right," Red seemed a smidge more confident. "So why do I want to... uh, pick on them?"

"Like I said, valuable things they've got. Slime gel's combustible, but doesn't burn out real quick - easy, controllable light source, for example. There's all kinds of good things out there, and so you beat up whatever has 'em and take 'em yourself. Don't worry, there'll pretty much always be more. Terraria's a relatively small place, but there's _always_ more."

"So are there any of these things would I have to watch out for?" Red asked.

"Up here, and in the daylight, pretty much only blue slimes will actually properly have a go at you, but they're slow and you'd be quick enough on your feet to get around or away if you don't feel up to the fight. In the night time, or down underground, whoo boy. Whole other story there."

Red's interest was solely on Dustin now, as he seemed intent on giving up the goods he'd been refusing to say earlier.

"I reckon it's a whole other story for a whole other time, though. A whole other time when -"

"Hey, no, wait," Red interjected again. "If we've got the shelter, we're safe right? That's what you said. So we've got time for you to give me those 'whys of Terraria' you were saying about earlier. I need _something_ to go on here, I've got nothing so far except what you're telling me."

"Not quite, bud. We do still need something else, which is why I'm bringin' you up to speed with the sword. You need to go out, smite one of those slimes and bring some of it back." Red's face fell, but Dustin continued regardless. "It's for a good reason, don't worry. I was sayin' earlier about slime gel being combustible, but controllable? - Yeah, we need a light source in the shelter or we're gonna have no end of trouble from the things that creep in the night. Hard to see in the dark for us, you know? And they hate the light as much as we hate the dark. Shouldn't have to go far, and it's an easy mark - just find one of the green ones, stick your sword in it a few times, and come back with some gel in your pouch."

"Can't you do that if you're this good with a sword?" Red's tone was a mix between pleading and accusing.

"I'm good at _teaching_ with a sword," Dustin corrected him with a small smile. "Hell, I'm good at teaching with just about anything. Actually doing with the same anything? You'd do better to count on one of the rabbits around here. Nope - you fetch it, I show you how to work it."

"If it's that easy though, you could do it, right?"

"You wish, man. Me too, sometimes." He gave a sad shake of his head. "Bring us back a bit of a slime, and I'll hook you up with some learnings, eh? Think of this as a learning experience, anyhoo - you're gonna need to be stickin' things that will actually fight back sooner or later, so you may as well get some practice in with crap that's easy to boss around."

"Right," Red muttered under his breath. "Don't think so."

"Come on man, it's easy peasy. Just get your sword out, walk up to one, and stab it like I showed - hey look, there's one now!" Dustin pointed excitedly off to Red's left, and he clambered up, swinging his head around to look.

The slime sat at the edge of the clearing, quivering slowly. Even Red had to admit, it didn't look very exciting. It was just a great lump of green... slime. Red eyed it cautiously, his eyes flicking down to see where his sword was. An idle part of his mind wondered where it had come from - there was no great trail of goop preceding it, like he would expect of a snail - how did he even remember what a snail was?

"Don't be scared," Dustin's voice almost made him jump. His Guide had retreated to the other end of the clearing, but judging by his face it was not an action of fear. "Really, all it can do is jump around. Grab your sword up, wait for it to jump, then shank it when it lands. It'll take some time before it can jump again, so that's your chance."

"W-what's it doing now, then?" Red asked as he reached down slowly for his sword, still keeping his eyes firmly on the slime. It was quivering much faster, and almost hunkering itself down to the ground.

Just as Red's fingers closed around the sword, the slime made its dramatic movement, leaping with enough force to reach as high as his head. Red fell backward with a yell, swinging the sword in front of him wildly.

To his surprise, the slime did not appear to be aiming for him with its leap - as he stepped back and took stock of Dustin's position, he noted it didn't seem to be aiming itself at him either. It landed several feet away from its initial position and settled there again, simply sitting as a great lump of green goop on the ground. The only thing in its path he could see was the opposite end of the clearing.

"It's jumping," Dustin commented helpfully. "They do that every so often. Like I said, the green ones aren't really capable of doing anything except that. It probably doesn't even know we're here."

"So it's not going to try and kill me?" Red asked as he edged toward it carefully.

"Well, it's not going to try. If you shove your face in it though, it'll probably hurt a bit." Dustin grinned behind him. "Try the sword instead. Stick the sword in it and see how you go."

"I should wait for it to jump again, you said...?"

"Mmm-hm."

"Will it even turn around?" Red stopped several paces away from the slime, which had again started rapidly quivering, readying itself to jump.

"Doubt it. Like I said, they're not self-aware. To any degree. At all. They don't even realize when they're being stabbed."

Again the thing leapt, and again its trajectory planted it several feet away from either possible targets. Spotting his window of opportunity and emboldened by the Guide's words, he dove forward and jammed the sword into the closest available part of the slime.

The sword pierced it as though piercing a bubble, and the response was immediate. What he could only call the slime's 'skin' ruptured, and it fell inanimate, nothing more than a green pile of goop slowly seeping into the ground.

Red still held his sword where the slime had been only seconds ago, breathing heavily and slightly confused.

"That's it! Well done. Easy peasy, didn't I tell you?" The Guide put on a warm smile and clapped his hands as he ambled slowly to Red's side.

"Yeah," he agreed dazedly. "What just happened?"

"Well, you broke it. That's what you were aiming to do, right?"

"I guess..."

"Then job well done!" He clapped again, grin widening. "And there's the gel, like I was talking about. Grab a stick or something and just dip it in. You can gather the rest up and drop it in your pouch, it shouldn't stick to it. Or your hands either, if you're worried about that."

Dustin looked up at the sun's position. The sun was going down now, but it wouldn't be true night-time yet for at least several hours.

"You sure you don't want to go out and grab up some more, or something? Still got an hour or two to burn, bud."

"No way - uh, no, sorry. No thanks. I think this will do for one day," Red said quietly, dipping a long-ish stick into the slime's remains. "Let's just get this light going."

"...You're the boss," Dustin agreed after a moment.


	4. Chapter 4

Red finished fashioning the torch to the wall and stepped back to admire his handiwork. He still wasn't entirely sure how he was doing what he was doing, beyond that he was simply pressing the base of the torch against the wall and it seemed to stick fast - but at least it was working. Dustin closed the door gently behind him as he entered the building, and Red turned to look at him.

"So. Story time now, right?"

"If you want," His Guide shrugged non-committally. "What do you want to hear?"

Red stood near the wall and fell into thought, pondering his first question. He was buzzing with them, of course, but he didn't know where to begin. Several minutes passed, their gazes flickering about the house idly. Red's eyebrows were furrowed in thought, but the Guide looked no more or less stressed than at any other time he'd seen him so far.

"Okay," Red finally spoke up, and Dustin's attention fell back on him. "How come I was brought here?"

"Whoo boy," Dustin muttered. "Start with a doozy, huh? Well, fine. You want the chair, or can I?"

Red nodded his acquiescence, and Dustin dragged the chair back to the wall near the door, dropping himself into it casually and leaning it back against the wall.

"Comfy?" Red remarked, as he leaned against his own wall, his back to the warming flames of the torch. If what Dustin had said was true, he wouldn't have to worry about it again - it wouldn't burn out unless it was doused, and probably wouldn't catch anything except itself on fire.

"You bet," he smiled, putting his hands behind his head casually. "So - what do you mean, 'how come'? That's a pretty open-ended question."

"Well, I mean - how come I'm here, instead of... wherever I was yesterday?"

Dustin looked at him appraisingly for some moments before answering. "No idea. No offence, but you don't look really very noteworthy to me. Look pretty average, if I'm blunt. No offence meant, mind."

Red's eyebrows furrowed again, this time in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what I say. I don't know," Dustin shrugged his shoulders, hands still behind his head. "I don't know how people get signed up for this. I don't even know how I got signed up for this. I've asked, of course I have, but they're not very forthcoming. My job is to guide. That's what I was told, and that's what I'm good at, so why not, right?"

"Right. Who's they?" Red interjected.

"Hard to explain..." Dustin looked away, mulling over how best to phrase it. "They're just... well, they are. The powers that be. All I can reliably tell you is that they _are_. Just... a presence, is all I know of them. Big. Sometimes angry, sometimes happy. I remember I was told what to do here... couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't really move, but I heard it somehow. Next thing I remember is waking up near you. Like I say, nothing else to really go on, nowhere else to really go, so I thought I'd just go with the job I'd been given."

"So you've pretty much got nothing, then. I thought you said earlier you know what's going on around here?" Red said, slightly irritated. Dustin just shrugged, putting an apologetic look on his face. "Well, do you know what _they_ dragged me here for, at least? Do you know what I'm supposed to be doing here?"

Once again, Dustin stayed silent, simply fixing him with an appraising look. Red fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Well, I can take a bit of a guess," Dustin began slowly. "You remember I told you that it's a lovely place during the day, but absolutely awful during the night? Well, it wasn't always. Used to be you could stroll around under the moon, not a care in the world!"

His hands finally left their place resting his head, accompanying his story with emphatic gesticulations.

"The land's... it's not _well_, is a good way to put it. It's... ah, ailing. It's sick."

"And I'm here to fix it," Red didn't know what he had expected, but he did know he wasn't comfortable being saddled with such a goal.

"Probably a good enough guess, but I wouldn't get ahead of yourself," Dustin shook his head. "That's a colossal job. Dangerous, lots of effort involved - I know I wouldn't if no-one was making me. No, I don't know exactly what you're here to do... it could be that, but hell, could be anything. Could even be some kind of cheap labour scam, for all I know," Dustin grinned wryly at this. "Still, all I've got to go on is what I'm given... You know, if you want to set a long-term goal for _yourself_, then that seems like a perfectly good idea to me. There's a pretty good one which will also tie in to finding a way back to wherever you came from - survive, get situated, and start advancing your situation."

"How would I go about doing that, then?" Red had asked for understanding, but was instead even more confused.

"Well, it's not really an 'okay, I'll have that done by tomorrow' sort of thing. Just - you know, advancing your position in the world. Expanding your sphere of influence. Getting to know Terraria, figuring out what you're good at, what you can do, where - normal stuff like that."

"Right... Makes sense, I suppose. You'll help me with that then, right?" Red asked.

"That's my contract to you, bud. Haven't I already been helping you out? I mean, night's falling and you've got a solid roof over your head - that's some good help, right?"

Red opened his mouth to reply, but Dustin talked over him. "That reminds me - the time..."

He turned his head to look out through the holes in the door, and Red's gaze followed his. The sun had gone down, and pitch black enveloped outside the house.

"Sun's gone down," Dustin said quietly, averting his gaze from the door. "The monsters will show up soon."

His tone unsettled Red. It wasn't fear, but it definitely wasn't his usual jolliness - what was it, really? He couldn't tell - Respect? Reverence?

"Will they hear us? Can they get in?" Red asked, a note of panic seeping in as he tried to keep his voice down.

"Yeah, they'll hear." Dustin's voice returned to its usual pitch, but the grim undertone stayed in. "We'll be fine in here, though. They can't get in. Still, I'd just... stay away from the door. Especially on your first night."

"You're right next to it, though..."

"I'm half a dozen feet away from it," Dustin rolled his eyes. "I'm talking about shoving your hand out through the holes or something like that. I'd just not go near it."

Red felt some reassurance, but his body didn't relax. He looked away from Dustin, trying to see out through the small holes in the door.. "You're sure they can't break it down or something?"

"Positive." Dustin replied, a bit more breezily than before. "They'll try though, for sure. You might not sleep very well, but you'll be safe, and that's what counts.

Red finally let the tension slip from his body and went back to leaning back against the wall. "They can't be really that bad if they're stopped by a wooden door, can they?"

"I think you'd be _very_ badly surprised."

Red waited for more, but Dustin didn't seem to want to go ahead and elaborate.

"What kind of things are they, then?" Red finally gave in and asked.

"Monsters," Dustin answered quietly. "Things. Unpleasant things. Do you want to know what's out there tonight?"

Red nodded once, steeling himself.

"Zombies and Demon Eyes, tonight. It's quiet, so it'll just be them."

"Zombies?" Red's stomach fell to hit his feet. He knew that word.

"The walking, stalking dead," Dustin answered grimly. They're... well. Like I said, Terraria's not doing too well at the moment - some foul magic that I don't even want to know about has been playing into the place. The dead, if they're touched by it... they get up again. They're... tough. Relentless. They'll be very hard for you to kill, armed and armoured as badly as you are, and if you can't kill them then they'll kill you - and an end at their hands will not be a pleasant one. If I were you, I would just not go out at night for now."

"For now?" Red picked up on that one pretty quickly. "That implies I'll ever be going out where there's zombies and whatever else you're not telling me about."

"Well, that ties into the whole 'advance your situation' deal I was mentioning earlier," Dustin explained. "Once you've got a big enough weapon and a decent suit of armour, you can kick them around no matter how wimpy you might be. The problem is surviving in the interim."

"But they're zombies. Don't they bite, or something? Turn you into one of them?"

Dustin ran a hand through his hair, trying to remember details. "Hmmm... I don't think so, no. I mean, they'll probably bite if they think they can manage it, but I don't think that's any worse than getting punched or scratched."

"So they can't turn other people into zombies as well?" Red asked, still not entirely reassured.

"They can turn you into a corpse if that's what you're asking, but most any monster can do that if you let 'em. Where'd you get that idea, anyway? I've never heard of anything like that."

"I don't know," Red mumbled, running a hand through his hair. "What about these... Demon's Eyes?"

"I'm told they're the eyes of hell come to see what we're up to," Dustin replied. "Not sure on the truth of that, but in either case they're good at a damn sight more than just seeing. Big, round, red and white, pretty easy to see even in the dark. They'll dive bomb you, hard, and smash you against anything they can. If you keep an eye on the sky you can usually beat them away or slice them open or something, but that's easier said than done, especially with things like the Zombies demanding your attention elsewhere."

A sudden thump on the wood from above resounded, interrupting Dustin's words of wisdom. Red jumped away from the wall and inched towards the centre of the house, but Dustin didn't seem too phased.

"That'd be one now, as a matter of fact," He said, face taut. "You'll be alright in here though, bud, like I said. A crowd of 'em couldn't get through that door."

"How?" Red insisted, looking at the thin, spindly door. As if to spite Dustin's words, the thump of flesh on wood continued to resound through the small house. Red was certain he could hear a low groaning through the door. "Are you sure? God, how can just that stop them?"

Dustin scratched at his hair idly. "Don't rightly know, but it does - so really, may as well just relax. Catch some sleep or something. Shouldn't stay up too late playing storytime,"

"Yeah. Right," Red groused. A sudden thought occurred to him. "Where will I sleep?"

"You can have the chair if you want, otherwise I'd guess the floor," Dustin pushed his chair forward and away from the wall. "Or you could fashion another chair or something. Either way you'll be sleeping on wood, unless you brought something else in without telling me,"

"Nah, forget it," Red slowly dropped himself down onto a section of the floor just slightly off the centre of the house, using his hands as a makeshift pillow. "No way it's worth it tonight, then."

"Right," Dustin settled back against the wall and closed his eyes, tuning out the almost rhythmic thumps with clearly practiced ease. "G'night then. Sleep well."

"Yeah. Right..." Red closed his eyes anyway and waited for sleep to take him, doing his best to ignore both the hardness of his bedding and the continued threats of death from without the house.


	5. Chapter 5

"G'morning, bud. How'd you do down there, all good?"

Red's eyes fluttered open as Dustin's voice wormed in through his ears and demanded his attention, recalling him to himself and making him aware of a stiff back and neck. The sounds of the monsters outside were gone, but he was inwardly surprised he hadn't been woken up by them in the night.

"Could be better," Red grumbled, slowly hauling himself to his feet despite his soreness. "Wood sucks for sleeping on."

"You're tellin' me," Dustin chuckled easily as Red grimaced and stretched. "Still, it's not much better sleeping outside. I'd guess the first thing you'd want to do today would be to sort out something to sleep on, huh?"

"I don't know, I just woke up," Red snapped. He blinked at the golden light filtering in through the door. "What time is it?"

"Not too long after daybreak," Dustin said. "Looks like a fine morning out there, though."

Finally taking proper stock of his situation, Red saw Dustin still on the chair and leaning back against the wall, as casual as anything. The rest of the house stood strong and sturdy - the door appeared as though it hadn't been disturbed at all in the night.

"So it really did hold..."

"I reckon you would've woken up if it hadn't. Anyway, I told you it would, didn't I?" Dustin beamed. "So, what do you want to get doin' today?"

Red returned to stretching, trying to work the cramps out of his body. "I don't know. Do I have to do anything?"

"Well, it's your call really," Dustin stood up from his chair and stretched. "I'd recommend you do something, though. Idle hands won't serve you very well when it comes to clinch time, will they?"

"What are you talking about? Clinch time?"

"Sooner or later your luck's going to crap out on you, bud. Remember I said last night was quiet? Yeah - yeah, that thumping and trying to smash down the door - that's _quiet_. When a _loud_ night rolls around... well, you won't do too well if you're still lazing around here with the crap I gave you." Dustin rolled his shoulders, still talking as casually as one would while discussing the weather. "So - yeah, it's best if you do something each day. Fortify the house, get some creature comforts going - like a good bed or two, a fireplace - get exploring, you know. Just something."

"Uh... A bed sounds good right about now, I suppose," His Guide's speech had rattled him a little, but he kept his voice level. "How would I go about making one of those?"

"Well, that's not too hard a task, but there's a lot of legwork involved. More sweat than elbow grease, if you know what I'm saying. You can assemble a bed at a sawmill with silk and wood. You can make a sawmill at a workbench - like what you've got over there - with an iron chain, around about three iron bars and some more wood. An iron chain is probably going to set you back three more bars, assuming you don't botch it the first time. And you could probably put together something that'll pass for silk out of some cobwebs if you scrape enough up. Good enough to sleep on, for sure. You'd be able to do that on a loom, for which you'd really just need more wood and I'd show you how to get it done." He counted off the items on his fingers as he listed them, smiling sardonically.

"God, all that for just a bed? Maybe the wood is better after all."

"Not by a long shot, trust me," Dustin grinned. "You know how easy wood is to get. Only things you'd really need that'd set you back any effort are the cobwebs and iron. Both of those you can find underground, incidentally,"  
"I see," Red spent some time processing this information in his head, until Dustin interrupted his musings.

"I can add a bit of incentive to it beyond just a soft place to sleep, too. You make a bed, and I'll bind you to it for you. How's that sound?"

"You'll what me?" Red asked, eyes narrowing.

"Bind you. You know, _you_, as in the most primal part of you, the part that sticks around when your body can't hack it anymore - your soul, spirit, essence, whatever you want to call it. What, did you think I meant ropes or something? Head out of the gutter, if you would -"

"What are you talking about?" Red asked, confusedly.

"Wow, you really are out of it, aren't you? Answer me a question first - how much do you remember, before you woke up in Terraria?"

"Bits and pieces. Nothing I can make any sense of," Red answered immediately. He didn't need to think to answer that one, he'd been struggling with his faulty memory even in his sleep.

"That makes me feel a little better, then. That's even less than what I've got," Dustin gave a cheeky grin. "Well, like I say, there's still a bit of a chance even if you end up in way over your head. You can die, but _you_ - your soul - it'll linger here for awhile. People are all different, but their souls are all the same - they'll flit around for a while, just _hoping _that they run into something that will help them. If your soul's properly bound to something, then it'll be drawn to that place or thing in particular. The idea is that I'll meet it here, and with it I can bring you back to life, good as new. It's a fairly reliable process, as long as it hasn't been long since you died and nothing's severely wrong with whatever makes it back here."

"Wait, what? No way you can just bring someone back from the dead, just like that," Red snapped. "That's impossible."

"Hey - Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do? You just said not thirty seconds ago that you can't remember jack," Dustin seemed affronted. "And no, I can't do it _just like that_. It's _hard_. It takes a hell of a lot out of you. But I can do it, and if you bring all the stuff back to make a bed then I'll be able to make death nothing more than a bad dream for you. You'll wake up, good as new in your nice, warm bed. Don't that sound nice, huh?"

"Sounds too good to be true, to be honest," Red said bluntly. "Unbelievably good, I could say."

"Well, you'd better believe it," Dustin grinned. "It's all true."

"How do I know that?"

"Ask the next person you see, they'll tell you the same thing. I'm not the only one who deals in souls, or whatever you want to name 'em. Far from it, as a matter of fact, and I'm pretty much only a dabbler, I'll admit that straight up. Lots of people and _things_ out there who could give you some damn convincing corroboratory evidence." Dustin kept smiling easily at Red as he spoke. "Anyway, have I given you any reason to doubt me so far?"

"I suppose not," Red relented. "Why exactly do you need a bed to do this? Can't you... uh, bind me to something else?"

"Don't rightly know," Dustin said brightly. He already seemed to have forgiven - or at least forgotten - Red's outburst. "But I do. I've thought a few times that it might be the silk, but I can't do it with anything else - you know, clothes or whatever. Oh yeah - just a by-the-by and to give you a little peace of mind, I would _probably_ still be able to bring you back from death right now without a bed, should anything _unfortunate_ happen while you're out - but I should say it's riskier. Like I said, you can't really predict where a soul that hasn't been bound will go. If it comes near then I can bring you back, and that's about all I can promise you until you get a bed built."

"Okay. I'll try and get -"

"Wait - word of warnin', too. If you encounter any people or _things_ who properly work with or even just eat souls or whatever, you'd do well to be very damn careful. There's not a lot I can do to save you if they've already got your claws on you, you know?"

"How will I be able to tell what can do that, then?" Red asked, a little bit of apprehension in his voice.

"Well, I've found a good rule is to not take risks with monsters or people at all if you can help it," Dustin smiled wryly. "Failing that, well... no real, solid way to tell, I suppose. General rule of thumb is the best I can manage - if it's hard enough to kill you it's hard enough to carry your soul off, too. Obvious exceptions apply, of course... If you get wasted by a slime, no matter how big or tough it is, you'll probably be alright, because they're stupid as hell. That's assuming we've got a bed going, like I say."

"So just be careful, then," Red furrowed his eyebrows. "Got it. Would I be likely to run into anything like that if I just wandered around a little bit?"

"What, above ground? During the day? Nah, you should be alright. Just keep an eye out for anything funny and play your hand careful if you run into anything unexpected. You planning on getting a bed going today, then?" Dustin asked.

"I thought you said I'd need iron to do that - wouldn't I have to go underground?"

"Probably. You might get lucky and catch a vein on the surface, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Anyway, it's not too bad going underground if you stay relatively near to the surface and mark down where you've been. Leave torches behind you, or something - simultaneously light the place up and mark where you've been. Just below the surface you're much more likely to find what you need, and really, there shouldn't be anything more irritating than bats and slimes around." Dustin wandered over to the door as he spoke. "Gonna catch some fresh air - you comin'?"

Red joined him outside, shielding his eyes from the sun until they adjusted. "So, do you think it would be a better idea to start with finding the things for a bed or just exploring? Or something else?"

"Pick one, any one. I'm here to guide you, not baby you," Dustin said lazily, stretching in the sunlight. "You've got some time, whatever you want to do. Like I say, the only thing I wouldn't do at this point is laze around doing nothing."

"That's rich," Red said dryly.

Dustin flopped down onto the grass, an easy smile on his face. "I know, right? Anyway, I'll be here if you come across anything you don't understand. I know pretty much everything about this place, you just ask and I'll tell you if I can."

"How come you don't know how the pouch works, then?" Red jibed.

"Technically doesn't fall under the heading of 'this place'," Dustin waved a hand dismissively. "Not really important, anyway. What's important is that it works,"

"Yeah, you said that," Red muttered, slightly disappointed that he hadn't played along. "Well, I think I will try and explore then, maybe just a little bit. Maybe find a cave, or something,"

"Okey doke. Make sure you've marked a path back or something, and be back well before sundown, or a bunch of monsters are going to be having a big, hearty laugh at your expense. And enjoy yourself too, huh? Like I said yesterday, it's a beautiful place in the daytime. Enjoy it while the light's above your head," he smiled easily, closing his eyes. "I'll be out here when you get back, unless you're late - I'm gonna pack it in when the sun goes down. Obvious reasons, you know."

"Yep, right. Okay - I'll be back before night, then,"

And with that, Red set out. He couldn't help but feel giddy - he'd been pushed and kicked around a little bit on his first day, but he felt like his position in the world was solidified and he was finally taking charge. Dustin had said he'd been chosen to be dropped here by the powers that be - all he had to do was find them and ask to be taken back, surely they wouldn't be too unreasonable. Finding them would be something to do, anyway - Dustin had said it was better to stay busy. He took his first steps out of the clearing with the tiny sword in his hand, the clothes on his back and the beginnings of a grand plan in his head, smiling as he did.


End file.
